Linkage
Four rods, two of length a and two of length b, are linked to form a kite, as shown in the diagram. The linkage is moveable so that the angles change. What is the maximum area of the kite?
Now suppose the four rods are assembled into a linkage which makes a parallelogram. What is the maximum area of this parallelogram?
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Isosceles
Prove that a triangle with sides of length 5, 5 and 6 has the same area as a triangle with sides of length 5, 5 and 8. Find other pairs of non-congruent isosceles triangles which have equal areas.
Disappearing Square
Do you know how to find the area of a triangle? You can count the squares. What happens if we turn the triangle on end? Press the button and see. Try counting the number of units in the triangle now. Do you have any interesting findings to report?